Miss Independent
by East Coast Ryder
Summary: Taylor did she live? And, if so, what happened to her? Epilogue up.
1. Prelude: Taylor

Disclaimer: I don't own nothin' important in the story  
  
Prelude: Taylor  
  
I stepped out of my house, unaware that I was being watched. Being watched by the threat to the Yeerk invasion. The Andalites. How much longer until we destroy the Andalites and conquer the universe? How much longer until we overrun the Andalite high command?  
  
I walked into the closest 7-eleven and saw some suspicious-looking teenage boys hanging by the counter, one of which looking familiar.  
  
Like Visser One's host.  
  
I walked up to the aisle nearest them, and watched them like they were watching me. As I got to the end of the aisle, they started following me.  
  
_"Beautiful, isn't it?"  
  
The Andalite backed up, then lunged toward me.  
  
TSEWW!  
  
"Don't be dumb, get control of your morph."  
  
How did you get here? The others would never let you get away from them.  
  
"You don't think they trust me? I'm hurt. Really."_  
  
I picked up a bag of pretzels and proceeded to the end of the aisle.  
  
They followed.  
  
I walked to the next aisle.  
  
They followed.  
  
I put a gallon of milk into the cart and reached for the cereal. I walked toward the counter.  
  
"$8.54," the clerk said, bored. Then he looked up.  
  
"Hi," I said, handing him a $10 bill.  
  
He stared at me for another second, then gave me my change.  
  
My name is Taylor. I am probably dead to the other Yeerks. Yet, I am alive. And I'm searching.  
  
Searching for the Andalite. The Andalite that recreated my destroyed host body. The Andalite who forced me to stay in the natural gas flow that nearly destroyed me.  
  
Visser Three. 


	2. Chapter One: Tobias

Chapter 1- Tobias  
  
"C'mon, Jake! Are you sure?" I asked.  
  
"Yes. I'm almost positive Taylor survived," Jake answered.  
  
"How do you know, Jake?" Rachel asked, totally pissed.  
  
"When we went to find the pumping station, I saw a shadow moving away from the tunnel. She was the only other person in that tunnel."  
  
We were at the food court at the mall. Cassie was still a little shocked at what she had done, so she wasn't there. Marco was getting food, and Ax was looking at another table who had just gotten Cinnabon.  
  
"Ax..."  
  
Marco chose to walk up at that moment. "So is She-Yeerk alive?" He handed me 3 supreme tacos and a large Sierra Mist from Taco Bell, Rachel a Whopper Jr. and Coke from BK, Jake a large order of curly fries and Sprite from Arbys, Ax a large Cinnabon and Mt. Dew , and himself nachos and Coke.  
  
Ax started to shove the whole bun into his mouth and I grabbed his hand.  
  
"Ax, for the final time, bite pieces off and eat them," Rachel said, annoyed.  
  
He looked at me, confused, shrugged, and proceeded to shove the whole Cinnabon into his mouth.  
  
"Oh, jeez!"  
  
I opened my taco and started eating. "So what if she's alive? If she goes to Visser Three, he'll kill her for failing, if she doesn't, she starves."  
  
Ax finished his bun and said, "Not likely. She would have fed before the digging, so she has about 2.34 days to do something."  
  
"The question is, what?" Jake said.  
  
We were stumped.  
  
"She'd want to get revenge!" Marco half-screamed.  
  
"Marco!" We all snapped.  
  
"Sorry," he said sheepishly.  
  
"She'd want to get revenge," he whispered. "But as to who?"  
  
"Visser Three. For making her do it," I said. We paused to continue eating.  
  
"I don't know how," Jake said, eating a fry, "she would do it. Visser Three happens to be the most guarded Yeerk on the planet. How would she get to him?"  
  
It came to me. "While he's feeding the Andalite body! When he's eating!"  
  
"So what do we do," Rachel asked. "Let her destroy Visser Three? Or do we attack her?"  
  
"If she destroys Visser Three, she will be hunted down, so no matter what she does- I got it!" Jake said, grabbing Marco's nachos. He ate one and continued. "She'll lock up Taylor, take a new host, and feed. If she is going to destroy the Visser, she uses Taylor's host body, destroys Taylor, and takes a new host." Marco reached for a nacho, saw Jake had taken them, and yanked them back.  
  
"Mine!" He snapped.  
  
Jake rolled his eyes. "Can we be mature? Just this once?"  
  
I ate my taco. "Not as long as Marco is here." Rachel stared at me, hurt.  
  
"I'm supposed to diss the dweeb!"  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"So we need to find Taylor, track her or something." Jake turned to me. "You know where she lives. Can you show us?"  
  
"Yeah. Not too far from here. By my Uncle's old dump, in the trailer park."  
  
"We head there Saturday. Clear things up with the parentals. We need everyone."  
  
We finished eating and headed out.  
  
I left the mall and demorphed.  
  
I flew off. I had fed the human. Time to feed the hawk. 


	3. Chapter two: Taylor

A/N: I reuploaded this chapter with a review responce, since I'm not done with the next chapter.

Chapter two –Taylor

I walked out into the light from the darkness of the theater. The people seemed kind enough, but none of them had seen the movie.

They were controllers.

"Taylor."

"Who is it?"

"Sorry, but it's been so long..." I looked behind me and saw...

Visser Three.

"Visser, what are you doing?" I said. I put my hand on my hip like I was surprised, but I was really reaching for my Dracon beam.

"It wouldn't be smart to do that, Taylor. Tsk, Tsk." The Visser said. "It isn't anything but business that brought me here. I want to make a deal with you, former sub-Visser. You get me the Andalites, and you are a Visser. Don't..."

"What makes you think I'm going to do that?"

"It's the only thing giving you Kandrona. Think about it." He walked off.

I rolled my eyes and left the mall.

No car. Not that that mattered; my license had been melted in the explosion. Not much money. Not too important, there was always the possibility that I could take another host and therefore receive money. No Kandrona. _That_ was important.

I was within two days of needing Kandrona, either that or the suicidal "instant maple and ginger oatmeal" solution.

{You're not that desperate, are you?} My host teased. Though she wasn't doing it to annoy me; she was voluntary; it stung.

{Of course not, you idiot.}

I walked along the side of the road to my trailer.

Ah, the trailer park. A place where humans who can't afford houses of their own live. Filthy place.

I grabbed the spare key from the planting pot, and stepped inside.

Not much had changed. There was food, there was a phone, there was my computer. No human thieves or 'burglars,' using the human term.

I logged onto the Internet to check Taylor's e-mail.

"Junk... Spam... Junk... Junk..." I said, deleting items. Nothing.

I logged off, and headed to the local seven-eleven.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Okay, Here's my review responces... Yeah. gives cookies to all reviewers

Wraithlord42: Yeah, I think this story is interesting, too. I've always liked Taylor's character. Thanks for the tip.

Korean Pearl: Technically speaking, he didn't. She got caught in the natural gas explosion. It could, technically, be possible she survived. but she would be very deformed.

Kharina: I'm glad you like this story. It's one of the best storys I have written. (it's gotten the most reviews, too.)

Taylor: Yeah, yer a host.


	4. Chapter three: Marco

Chapter three

Marco

After tailing Taylor through seven-eleven, we reported back.

"Yeah, Taylor's still around, it's not like she died," I said over the phone. "She was just at the seven-eleven."

"Cool, we should hook up and see if she wants to hang," Jake replied in the code we'd learned so well.

"Yeah, let's see if Cassie and Rachel want to, too."

"That'd be great," Jake agreed. "Same place as we usually do, but I've got, like, 5 homework assignments to do."

5 minutes. "Okay, see you then," I hung up.

I dialed Cassie, relayed the same message, and she went and called Rachel. I looked at the clock to see how much longer I had to tell my dad and stepmom that I was leaving, and fly to Cassie's. The flight took about five minutes, so I had to go soon.

I yelled at my dad that I was leaving, and morphed.

Five minutes later, I landed at Cassie's barn, ready to tell the others what we'd seen before leaving for them to see themselves.

"She was covered in charred skin, her hair was a mess. Yet somehow she could pull off that look. There was a melt on her face that made it look like she was crying," I described.

"Anything suspicious?" Jake asked.

"Unless you count having an $8.54 cost on pretzels, milk, and cereal unusual, no."

{Not that unusual Marco, it was a two-pack of milk, and a big box of cereal,} Tobias commented.

"Whatever," I said, looking outside. Unlike this morning, the sky was covered in clouds. The air was heavy, and there was a slight wind blowing. I don't know if you have seen this type of weather before, but it's a little creepy.

This is coming from the kid who fights brain-stealing aliens on an almost daily basis.

"Not good flying weather," Cassie noted.

{No, only a bird with about ten brain cells would fly in this weather,} Tobias said.

"But we're going to. Unfortunately," Rachel muttered. "The joy of being an Animorph."

"Would seagulls be able to fly in... What am I saying, we've been seagulls in hurricane weather," Jake smacked himself in the head.

{Seagulls do have only ten brain cells...}

Ax put forth a great suggestion. Prince Jake, might I suggest that we do this another night? Perhaps one that isn't about to rain?

"Remember, Ax, we only have one more day to figure out what she's up to."

{I understand, Prince Jake.}

"So, we basically morph and go? Being very careful, of course, to make sure she doesn't find out we're humans?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, that's about it," Jake answered.

"Incidentally, Fearless Leader," I asked, "What are we going to do when we get there?"

"We'll figure that out, I guess," Jake said after a pause. "Seagull morphs. Tobias, you stay in your regular form."

We morphed.

**May I direct you to this little button on the bottom left corner? You click it, and up opens the review box. Even if you just write, "Hi, I read your fic," review review review! Yeah, and constructive criticism is GREATLY appreciated.**


	5. Chapter four: Taylor

Chapter four

Taylor

Find the Andalites.

Simple, yet so difficult.

Of course, I knew one of them well.

{Well enough to predict him? We'll find out,} Taylor asked.

{I've spent enough time with him that I should be able to,} I replied. {You know that as well as I do.}

{We shall see, Xanos.}

I stepped out of the trailer, ready to find the Andalite's 'scoop,' as they call it. I had looked at many of the sites the 'Andalite Bandits' had attacked, and found a common denominator.

The mall.

Close enough to The Sharing, on top of the Yeerk pool, a well-organized meeting place, it made sense to be close by. Their scoop also had to be hidden, in a grassy area, so that left the forests. I would search the forests close to the mall.

The closest one was just on the east side of the mall, beyond an abandoned construction area. The one where Visser Three had killed Beast Elfangor.

I used a cloaked bug fighter that the Visser had given me for my mission. I scanned the areas around the forest before beginning to search inside.

Anything with even the slightest DNA strand even resembling an Andalite's would be looked at closely. Nothing was found, so I moved on.

Several forests later, I found five seagulls taking off from a barn near a forest. A minute later, a red-tailed hawk flew from the forest.

Scanners showed the hawk and one of the seagulls had Andalite DNA.

I used a small tractor beam to draw the hawk in. I knew him to be the tortured Andalite. I opened a small compartment in the back to bring him into the Bug.

"We meet again, Andalite."

**Review Corner**

Ooohh... cliffee... BTW, Xanos is Taylor's Yeerk's name in my fic. Was it ever mentioned in the series? I don't remember. Anyway, may I direct you to this little button on the bottom left corner? You click it, and up opens the review box. Even if you just write, "Hi, I read your fic," review review review! Yeah, and constructive criticism is GREATLY appreciated.

Lady Kino: Yeah, that'd be it... Bugs Bunny...

Insane Frog: Yeah, that's like my favorite line.


	6. Chapter Five: Tobias::Cassie::Taylor

Chapter five

Tobias

She turned toward me. "We meet again, Andalite."

A voice I knew well. A voice I'd hoped never again to hear. Taylor.

>Taylor.>

"I take it you survived."

>How you survived is more miraculous than how I did.>

She smiled. A face once disfigured, an arm taken away by a fire, all melted once again. A horrific creature rather than a Human-Controller. And I had to see this beauty disfigured once more. Something that never should have been, but is.

"The fact that I'm alive is enough for you to know right now. However…" She trailed off. "Demorph, Andalite."

**Cassie:**

He never saw the Bug Fighter coming. A simple shimmer, nothing more, and Tobias was brought towards it.

>Ax! What is that?> Jake asked, stalling in mid-air.

>He's being drawn in by some sort of Yeerk tractor beam, Prince Jake.>

Jake didn't even bother telling Ax not to call him prince. >Tobias! Try to get out of there!>

>I can't…> Suddenly he stopped moving. Another shimmer, then Tobias disappeared.

>Tobias!> Rachel yelled.

>Bug Fighter, Taylor maybe?> Marco asked.

>Possibly,> Jake answered. >Tobias? Can you hear me?>

No reply.

>Ax, can thought-speak penetrate force fields?> I asked.

>It can penetrate most of the Andalite fields, but as this is a Yeerk ship…>

>…We have no way of reaching Tobias, Rachel finished for him.>

>He's handled Taylor before,> I said to Rachel.

>Yeah, but he barely survived both times.>

>Look, Rach, we'll get Tobias out of there.>

>But when? After she's tortured him to death?>

All was silent.

**Taylor:**

"Demorph, Andalite. It's as simple as that."

The hawk didn't make a move, nor did anything change.

"Demorph," I said, reaching for my Dracon weapon.

Of course, hawk eyes miss nothing.

>I will not demorph unless you promise I am safe, no infesting…> His eyes darted to my hand. >No shooting.>

I lifted my hands. "Deal, Andalite."

I saw small tufts of blue fur come from feathers, arms from wings, and an extra pair of legs sprout from his body. Eyes reshaped, two more eyes sprouted on his head…

The tail. I had overlooked the tail. And anything of this magnitude that was overlooked, could cost me my life…

FWAPP!

The blade at my throat, all too familiar.

>Yeerk.>

"Andalite," I countered.

>Tell me what you are doing here.>

"What is any self-respecting Yeerk going to do?"

No reply.

>Of course. Any Yeerk would be commended for capturing the Andalite bandits…>


	7. Chapter Six: Taylor

A/N: Unless otherwise notified, all remaining chapters will be in Taylor's POV.

Chapter six

"Correct, Andalite." I attempted to push the Andalite's tail away from my neck, but of course the tail is practically pure muscle. It barely moved at all, and my disfigured host body didn't help any. "What's your name?"

>Silence for a moment. _Aristh _Tobian-Sirinul-Nicholae,> he said.

"Ah." Tobian? I hadn't heard many Andalite names, but it seemed more… human than Andalite. And Nicholae was the name of a human book, if I wasn't mistaken. Sirinul… That sounded more of an Andalite name. My confusion temporarily left me unguarded, and the tip of Tobian's blade scooped the Dracon from my pocket.

His tail whipped back, depositing the Dracon in his hand. He pointed it at me. >Take us down…> He stared out the front of the bug and pointed, >There.>

I complied, saying nothing of the location, a small clearing in the forest.

A minute later, the hatch opened, and Tobian led me out of the bug still at Dracon-point. The classic Andalite team of gorilla, grizzly, tiger, Andalite, and wolf was waiting for us.

For three minutes, there was silence, probably a conversation between the Andalites.

>Taylor, you are free to go.> A voice unlike Tobian's said. >But…>

"Let me guess," I said, "If I do not tell the Visser. Do you trust me that much, Andalite?"

>Perhaps,> Tobian said. >We will be watching, Taylor…>

"I surmised as much," I said. Tobian handed me the Dracon, backing away.

The Andalites were gone.

>What are we going to do now, Xanos?> Taylor asked innocently.

I exploded. >What are WE going to do now? Who's in control of your body? I am. And _I_ have just lost the Andalite bandits!> I wasn't pissed, as the humans say, I was more worried. And I guess that feeling got through to Taylor, because she just calmly listened as I vented, (another human expression.)

>I could help?> She more asked than offered.

>No. I must do this on my own.>

I walked back into the ship, stewing in my own thoughts, returning to the same outcome with every scenario: Death.

>There's always another way, Xanos. I could help, I told you before. You could infest another, make up another name for yourself and feed.>

>And do what with— I got it. You are giving up your life?>

>If I must.>

>You would care for a Yeerk that much?>

>I am a voluntary, you know. I see what you want, more than power. You want freedom. Maybe— The peace movement. They could help us.>

>It is more than likely that the peace movement knows of us, thanks to the Andalites. They would turn us away as renegades, spies.>

>They would most likely be forgiving. We could see if they could…>

>No.>

>It may be your only chance.>

I sighed. >I guess you're right.>

**Bet you weren't expecting that, huh? CANDY TO JANIKA, FOR ONLY SHE REVIEWED! (glares daggars at others) Oh, and sorry I didn't post responces for last chapter. They're below.**

**Janika: Uh... I don't know. Maybe AKJ can give me an idea?**

**e.dragon: I already have. Thank you.**

**Kharina: THANK YOU FOR UPDATING 'Aftran's Choice!' Lucky you, the rest are in Taylor's POV (snerk)**

**Cassie101: Dunno. Heh. When are you updating your fic?**


	8. Epilogue: Taylor

Epilogue

_One Year Later _

The Yeerk war was over, we had joined the peace movement, and were now on trial by the Yeerk council.

Though Visser One had been imprisoned by the humans, most of the Council of Thirteen had wanted the same as he did: open war with no spies, no peace movement.

Through the end of the war, Taylor and I had helped the movement well, and they in return helped us. There were members of the movement that would help me feed without using Taylor's body, and Taylor and I helped recruit host bodies.

When I found out that 'Tobian' was a human, I was angry, yes, but it seemed clear to me that he had his reasons for not telling me while I was down, like I had had my own to find them. He needed to stay alive, like I had.

I know now that I am to be executed for sure. Lying to officers, being a member of the peace movement, failing in capturing the 'Andalite Bandits…'

I just want to say to anyone reading this, my version of an Andalite's _hirac delest_, that sometimes what you see is merely a shattered reflection of what is. Maybe at first I was just a petty, cruel, dishonest Yeerk, but life isn't always black and white.

A/N: Well, bet you weren't expecting that, now were you? Thank you to all my readers, Janika, Korean Pearl, and everyone else. I would like to say that maybe I'll write a companion piece to this about Taylor's journey through the Yeerk peace movement, if there is demand…

Janika: Okay, you're right, but it makes a good story to have her run like a little girl to the peace movement.

Kharina: Fine, fine... I'm guessing you're all for the companion piece, then?

Elwing: Oops... Sorry. Too late now, though, right? Hee-hee...


End file.
